Ordering Confederate Records

To obtain copies of  service records and pension records, follow the instructions below. 

The NATF 80 has been replaced by two new forms, the NATF 85 for military pension and bounty land warrant applications and the NATF 86 for military service records for Army veterans who were discharged prior to 1912.

All genealogical forms (NATF 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, SF 180) must be requested from the Contact NARA page at
http://www.archives.gov/global_pages/inquire_form.html

Confederate Pension Records
Confederate Pension Records are held by the state where the pensioner lived when the application was filed. The State Libraries or Archives are the usual depositories for these records. Most Confederate state pensions were means tested--the applicant had to be near destitute to qualify. As a result, many Confederate soldiers never applied for such pensions. To determine whether your ancestor applied for a pension write the state archives where he lived after the war. A complete list of addresses and telephone numbers, as well as links to some states, is available online at:

http://www.nara.gov/genealogy/confed.html

There is a three volume index to the  applications for pensions that may be available in many Mississippi libraries. Pension records can be ordered from the Mississippi State Archives in Jackson.

 If your ancestors moved to Texas after the war there is an index online which includes a search engine and a procedure for ordering the file by email. The address is:

http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/lobby/cpi/cpindex.htm

When you write to determine if your ancestor or his beneficiary applied for a pension it is again helpful to have the letter company and numbered regiment in which he served, as well as his wife's name.

As you receive your information, if your ancestor served in a Walker County  regiment, please let me know. I will post your serviceman's name with your email address attached.